Simviation Forums

Just been reading Nick's thread on ATI graphics drivers/flickering, and a thought occurred. He says that all his boxes are checked, except for ground shadows.

Then I recalled that many of the screenies I've seen, plus pictures from downloads of planes etc. have the ground shadows turned off.

I assume that this must be something to do with framerates, but to me the game takes a real reality hit if you  turn the shadows off, which is why I have mine turned on.

What do you lot think?

I have it off and best forgot.

On my video card its frame rate hit is minimal and could keep it active, though I don't, and for sound reasons.

My main hub is Naples Capodichino 2005 + Naples Photoreal by the great guys at Napulevola and if I decide to put ground shadows on, some of the more attractive new graphics on this add-on on the Camaldoli hill show flat shadows projected horizontally on thin air. Very uncool.

And I'm more than sure that there are other situations around the simulated world where the poor rendering engine of FS9 grants my choice as the best one.

On my Lubbly-Jubbly n_vidia, Ge-Force graphics card I have absolutely everything turned up to the max...especially ground shadows... ...!

...no framerate hits*... ...!

Paul... ...!

* (locked at 25 FPS)......!

With some heavy scenery added, I found turning off all shadows improved things considerably regarding framerates...one other item about shadows, ever notice during cloudy/stormy weather settings, all of your shadows still appear as if the sun is still shining?

With some heavy scenery added, I found turning off all shadows improved things considerably regarding framerates...one other item about shadows, ever notice during cloudy/stormy weather settings, all of your shadows still appear as if the sun is still shining?  That would be a fix to wish for in the next version of FS.  

That and turning off the damn moon reflections on water when there's no moon out...
And cloud shadows on the ground, oh yes that would be nice. Handy for determining wind direction, sometimes (real pilots don't hit "Shift Z"!)
I've been leaving the terrain shadows on... i have stuttering problems and low fps near cities, but it's got nothing to do with gound shadows.

I like my ground shadows, they stay on all the time.

If you ever land a floatplane on a lake, particularly in early morning or late afternoon, you'll realise how useful that shadow can be to judge your altitude and rate of descent!

Gryshnak